


Running Out Of Time

by Summerwolf



Series: Whumptober 2020 [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: BAMF Tony Stark, Buried Alive, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Near Death Experiences, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Peter Parker is a Mess, Thoughts of death, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Whumptober 2020, Worried Tony Stark, collapsing building, peter makes some bad decisions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:06:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26811856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Summerwolf/pseuds/Summerwolf
Summary: Whumptober day 4 - Collapsed Building, Buried Alive---Peter felt the panic and dust every time he took a breath. Felt as it rattled through his windpipe and settled in his lungs. Felt as the awful realisation that he was alone settled over his shoulders.No one knew he was here.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Whumptober 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946926
Comments: 6
Kudos: 142
Collections: The Best Irondad/Spiderson Fics, The Best Peter Parker Whump Fics, Whumptober 2020





	Running Out Of Time

Peter felt the panic and dust every time he took a breath. Felt as it rattled through his windpipe and settled in his lungs. Felt as the awful realisation that he was alone settled over his shoulders.

No one knew he was here.

Karen had been disconnected for her annual maintenance, and Peter had been told to stay at SI while the Avengers went to deal with the building. 

But Peter had recognised the street, and he had remembered how many people lived down there, people he went to school with, people he knew and would miss. So he did what anyone would do and ignored what Mr Stark had told him. He grabbed his suit, jumped out the window and went to join in.

He'd managed to free around ten people before a beam fell and trapped his leg, pinning him to the ground while more and more debri fell around him. He'd not seen Mr Stark, or any of the other Avengers, since arriving, which meant one simple thing.

They thought he was at home.

They would not come looking for him.

And he was trapped.

He was not getting out of here any time soon.

Peter's eyes flickered around the dim hollow he'd found himself in, the beam that was pinning him down was also the only thing stopping the debri above him from falling down, and he knew that if he shifted even a little bit too far then that would be it for him.

"Help!" he coughed, hoping that maybe someone would hear him. He knew realistically that everyone would be outside, too far away to hear his weak yell. The dust was settling, his throat getting hoarser by the moment as he struggled to take a breath.

He shouldn't have done this. If he'd just listened to Tony then he would be home and safe and chilling while watching TV, maybe talking to FRIDAY, maybe he would have figured out how to connect Karen to the systems and talked to her as well. The Avengers would be on their way home after saving a load of people, and then maybe they would have a movie night.

But instead he had decided not to listen, like the idiot he was, and here he was.

Trapped under a building.

Breathing in enough dust to leave his coughs rattling out his throat.

His leg burning in pain.

This had to be the worst Monday night ever, as well as the worst decision he'd made in a while. He was already starting to regret a good half of his life decisions.

Peter felt his breathing start to speed up, and knew he needed to distract himself. The more he thought about this the more he was going to panic, and the more he was going to start choking.

He gulped in some wheezy breaths. It was okay. It was all going to be okay…

It would only take Tony ten minutes to get back to SI, FRIDAY would probably tell him that Peter wasn't there straight away, and then another ten minutes to get back here… he could survive this for another while, it wouldn't be forever that was for sure…

Maybe someone would mention to one of the Avengers that they had seen him. Maybe then they would figure out he was there and start looking for him quicker… maybe then they would be able to get him before anything got any worse.

As though his thoughts had jinxed his situation, the debris above him started to groan, shifting just enough for another shower of dust to fall down, stinging his eyes enough to moments blind him, and making breathing the heavy air that much harder.

Fuck. This was just getting worse and worse.

If the debris could shift once, it could shift again, and again, and again until it fell through the small gap which was all that was providing Peter with air, blocking it off and burying him alive until either the Avengers found him or he suffocated.

And with every moment that passed the latter option was feeling more and more likely.

Maybe the Avengers would find him… eventually… but what was to say that it wasn't already too late. Maybe he'd still be alive, but he wouldn't live long enough to get better. Maybe this was it for him, his last couple of moments of conscious thought, and he was spending them panicking and wondering if he would ever escape.

Huh, he was not great at this whole accepting death thing… that was probably a good thing for his survival chances… less good if these really were his final moments.

It was weird, he knew there was a high chance he wouldn't survive this, his lungs were burning, his breaths shallow and gasping, and his head was starting to get a bit floaty, but he still couldn't believe that this could be it. Maybe that was why his thoughts were so weird, so disconnected, because of the lack of oxygen making everything so fluffy and floaty and out of this world.

It was weird, to say the least.

Something shifted again, another coating of dust joining the party along with some of the smaller pieces of debris, sharp rocks and large splinters raining down and cutting Peters arms when he raised them to protect his face. His leg - trapped under the beam as it was - had no protection and was cut even though his suit and he could feel patches of wetness starting to appear along his forearms and legs.

Apparently he now had to add probably on their way to being infected, dust filled wounds to his list of things that could probably kill him before anyone could save him.

His legs were falling asleep, being trapped in one place for so long enough to start to hurt, but he couldn't shift in place without knocking the beam, and with all the injuries he was starting to be littered with he wasn't sure he wanted to move too much and risk causing himself more pain.

His head tipped back, his neck starting to get too tired to hold itself up which Peter was a good ninety percent sure was a bad thing, staring at the hole above him which had definitely shrunk since he last saw it, and the pile of debris which had definitely got closer. There was a commotion, he could just about hear it from his bubble thanks to his hearing, and he gathered up all his breath for one last yell.

Commotion meant people and people meant survival.

"HELP!" He wasn't sure if it was as loud as it felt to his battered throat. Peter wasn't even sure if it managed to escape the hole he was trapped in, but it was the best he had and if the way his lungs were rapidly moving was any indication, he wouldn't be getting another chance.

He listened carefully, hoping to hear a noise, any noise, but all that surrounded him once more was silence, and the ominous creaking of debris. Maybe he had imagined the whole thing, maybe there were no people. Maybe this was it.

The end.

The pile of debris above him started sinking down, it's pace slow yet fast at the same time, Peter's imminent death playing behind his eyelids. People always said that your life flashed before your eyes when you died, but Peter saw no life, just the slow sinking of debris, the lack of air holes that would soon cover him, and the… bright blue light…

Okay now he definitely was hallucinating.

The debris above him exploded into a million pieces, the ensuing dust settling in the air just as a red and gold figure stepped into the hole, lifting the beam from his leg and pulling him against its chest.

"Mr Stark? He croaked out, blinking rapidly to try and clear his eyes and see if this really was reality.

"Yeah kid, it's me," Tony's voice filtered through the dusty air, sounding like music to Peter's ears, "don't you ever do that again, you hear me."

"I hear you."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!!  
> Kudos and comments make my day!!  
> Have an awesome week!!


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